Indonesia’s base oils imports climbed to a six-month high in July, supporting a strong rise in demand for the lubricant feedstock in the southeast Asia market.Rising consumption in southeast Asia in turn provided a key outlet for shipments from South Korea and Singapore and cushioned the impact of weaker demand from China.Any slowdown in Indonesia’s base oils requirements would by contrast magnify the impact of more muted demand in other markets.Indonesia’s base oils imports of 51,400 tonnes in July rose from 45,600 tonnes in June and by 13% from year-earlier levels, government data showed.The year-on-year increase was the fourth in five months.Indonesia is home to a Group I and Group III base oils unit. It relies on overseas supplies to cover its Group II requirements.The rise in the country's imports coincided with steady economic growth in the first half of the year.Indonesia’s rising manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) in the first half of the year mirrored that growth.The PMI then pointed to contraction in July for the first time in almost three years, before extending the slowdown in August.As southeast Asia’s largest base oils importer, any slowdown in the country’s shipments would have a wide impact on the region’s requirements.Singapore remained Indonesia’s largest source of overseas supplies in July with a more-than 60% share of the country’s total imports.But the share fell from more than 70% in the first seven months of the year amid a pick-up in shipments from Taiwan.Even so, Singapore’s high share of Indonesia’s base oils imports highlighted its growing importance as a key outlet for the city-state.The prospect of a sharp increase in Singapore’s base oils production capacity in 2025 added to the importance of markets like Indonesia to absorb those rising supplies..Thailand’s July lube demand rises.Asia’s lube demand set to slow in Q4 .S Korea July base oils exports stay lower.Singapore’s July base oils exports rise
